My Tourniquet
by Cat the Believer
Summary: It's only been a few months since her closest friend's disappearance. Jay has her outlets, even though Gale doesn't approve of them. tw: attempted suicide.


She felt the sharp sting in the thighs, watching herself make the thin red, bleeding lines with her knife. She stood up, moving so that she didn't get the blood on the clean bed. She walked to the bathroom, feeling her legs shake and sting. Once she got to the cold and bright room, she sat next to the bathtub in the floor, sighing as she laid back against the wall. She let her mind drift away as she sat in the quiet, thoughts of the few months that lead up to the fight filtered through. "It's only been five months… it's still painful though…" She sat and closed her eyes, letting tears start to roll down her cheeks.

An elderly man walked into the apartment, carrying in a few full bags of groceries, "Jay, I'm back." He trotted them into the kitchen area, setting them down and pulling everything out. He cocked his head when he didn't get an answer to his statement earlier, "Jay? You here, child?" he set an item down and walked over to the directions of the bedrooms, seeing the doors were open and the rooms were empty. Turning, he saw the bathroom light was on with the door closed; he pressed his head against the door, not hearing anything, he turned the knob and poked his head in. He saw the young girl sitting in the floor, her legs spread out in front of herself, a pool of blood could be seen just under her right leg. He sighed and walked in, sitting on the edge of the tub next to her.

"Jay, what's the meaning of this?" he questioned, watching her lower her head, she didn't say anything. He sighed softly, readjusting himself to be comfortable, seeing her watch him through her hair. He leaned down slightly, "Is this because of Trevor?" she turned towards him, lifting her head up and he saw just how dull her icy blue eyes looked, even though they glittered from tears. "Do you honestly think that committing suicide would do you any good and let you see him again? I know you two were close, Jay, but"

She jumped up, effectively cutting his sentence off with a nearly white glare, "You think I'm that low and idiotic that I would commit suicide over someone?! Is that what you really think of me?!"

"Jay, I-" he tried to reach out and pat her shoulder, but she defiantly smacked it away.

"No! I am not one of those types of people! If I was, I would have died when Crowe was killed!" her voice started to crack, she bit at her lip before her shoulders slumped. She dropped to her knees harshly in front of the man, starting to sob, "Master Gale… I just… I needed an escape from the pain of losing someone I was so close too…"

Gale blinked slowly, taken aback as she leaned forward, gripping at his jacket, and buried her pale face into his shirt. He wrapped his arms around her in a hug, remembering when she sobbed like this after they buried her twin sister for the final time. "Don't fret, Jay, I'm here for you."

She looked up at him, really making him see the little twelve year old girl he took under his wing those six years ago. Her lip trembled, making her look like she was pouting, "You'll… be my tourniquet?" she watched him nod, smiling down at her, with such a fatherly softness that it made her sniffle several more times as she hugged him tightly again.

She barely took notice to him leaned back ever so slightly, but she did lift her head up when he turned the water on. She looked at him in confusion and was about to speak and question him when he grabbed the hose attachment and sprayed her in the face, causing her to sputter. She quickly moved her hands to block the onslaught and sputtered more, "What the hell!? ACK!" She squealed when he moved a little and got her face again, laughing like a senile old man. He finally shut the water off after awhile, still laughing, even more so because of Jay's face; she had an expression almost like learning all the meanings and secrets of the universe, with water running down her face and her hair clinging to her. After she gaped at him for several minutes, she finally started to laugh with him.

They sat together, laughing, for what felt like hours, before Gale stood up and held his hand out to her, "Come on, help me put the groceries away before something goes bad." She nodded, taking his hand and being helped up and lead to the kitchen.


End file.
